The Day the World Almost Ended
by EcchiNekos
Summary: This is a New Years fic that we wrote at New Years... we only just uploaded it. ^^: PG-13 for excessive snogging and groping. If het offends you, don't read. ^_^


Warning: Starts out "innocently" enough, but quickly gets worse. Don't read if you're not supposed to read this type of things, kay? Thanks.  
And we don't own any of these characters. If we did, we'd be having a lot more fun with them.   
  
Co-written by Kerianne and Hokuto  
  
~  
"Are you really sure this is a good idea?" Seiichirou Aoki asked Karen Kasumi as the two stood in the corner of the room.  
  
Karen smiled. "I'm sure it's a good idea. Don't you think so?" The two were interupted as Sorata Arisugawa stumbled drunkenly into the wall, followed quickly by an equally-as-drunk Arashi Kishuu. The two teens fell behind a nearby couch in an intimate embrace and the two adults sweatdropped.  
  
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Seiichirou looked at the woman.  
  
"...On second thought, no."  
  
  
~  
The Day the World Almost Ended  
~  
  
Earlier-  
  
"Come on, Aoki-san." Sorata said jokingly. "Why not throw a party for the New Year? We should be happy for a New Year, no?"  
  
"That's right!" Yuzuriha Nekoi said, as the she and Sorata stood facing the editor. "You never know! This may be the last chance to have a party before the end of the world is destroyed!" The two gave their most pathetic looking faces to the older man.  
  
Seiichirou felt himself cracking. "Oh, all right. But-"  
  
His words were lost as Sorata and Yuzuriha burst out screaming happily and glomped their significant others, Arashi Kishuu and Kusanagi Shiyuu(who had been visiting for a moment to give something to the Ojou-chan and had ended up being dragged into this mess). Kamui Shirou looked in from the kitchen, noticed the chaos and went back in.   
  
Seiichirou sighed. He had a bad feeling about this..  
  
"Don't worry, Aoki-san." Karen said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Don't you trust them?" Seiichirou looked at her and decided he had a very bad feeling about this.  
  
~  
  
Present-  
  
"Here, Aoki-san." Karen said, giving the man a glass of water so he could take an aspirin. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that if it was lit on fire, the string would snap and it would hit you in the head..." she patted his head gently. Seiichirou shook his head, then winced. That made it worse, and Karen realized that. She reached out and grabbed a bottle of sake, and poured some for him. "Do you want this?   
  
He gave her a wary look. "I know what that is, Karen-san. And no, it would probably make my headache worse." He sighed. Karen gave a pout, then an evil grin and pounced on the man. He gave a surprisingly high squeak and Karen held back giggles as she held him down and forced the sake down his throat. He choked, but swallowed and found his headache fading away. Karen smiled as he sat up, face flushed from the alcohol. Things were about to get more fun, it seemed.  
  
In a couch on another side of the room, Yuzuriha drank back another cup of sake. She smiled at Kusanagi, who seemed very uncomfortable in the enviroment of loud, noisy people. And that Christmas tree in the corner wasn't helping any. "Kusanagi-san? Are you okay?" Yuzuriha asked, blinking at him.  
  
Kusa nodded down at her. "I'm fine, Missy." he noticed how many bottles of sake she'd drunken already. "Maybe you should stop drinking, though?" He hadn't wanted to drink much tonight...not around these wacky people.  
  
Yuzuriha shook her vehemently. "No! It's New Years! Let's celebrate!" Then she glomped him, giggling.  
  
"Ah..Missy..." Kusanagi flushed slightly and tried to disengage her hands from around him before they went to inappropriate places. This just made her laugh more and cling to him. After a moment she pulled back, face red. Then laughed.   
  
"Come on, Kusanagi-san!" she bounced, eyes shining brightly.  
  
Kusanagi wondered for a moment if he should distract her and run like heck. No, that would hurt her feelings and he didn't want to do that. He gave her another look, then sighed and poured a cup of sake for himself, while Yuzuriha cheered. If you couldn't beat them....  
  
Behind another couch, Sorata got up and teetered dangerously on his feet. Arashi did the same, straightening out her clothing.  
  
"Man..." Sorata said, holding his head and moving so he could sit on the couch in front him. "I can't hold any alchohol."  
  
Arashi collapsed onto the couch, laying her head on his leg. "That's okay." She said, face flushed. "Neither can I." They looked out around the room. Aoki had by this time drunken a few more glasses of sake, and it seemed he had no tolerance whatsoever, as he was dancing around with his shirt off, and a belt tied around his forehead. Karen wasn't drunk, or not too badly at least, and was highly entertained by the dancing Aoki, laughing and clapping her hands with glee.  
  
At that moment, Kamui appeared at the top of the stairs, wearing little striped pajamas and looking none too cheerful. "Would you people keep it down?" he snapped. "I'm trying to get some sleep--" His eyes fell upon Aoki and widened to impossibly large proportions (even by CLAMP standards), as his face went sheet white. "... Er. Um. I think I'll get back to bed then," he muttered, backing away slowly.  
  
"Kamui-chaaaaan!" Yuzuriha shouted with a huge, drunken smile. She picked herself unsteadily up from Kusanagi's lap (the geomancer heaved a sigh of mixed relief and disappointment) and tottered toward the stairs. "C'mon down! We're havin' funnnnn!"  
  
Kamui blinked, a little shocked to see innocent little Yuzu-chan in such a state. "... I think I'll pass," he said dryly.  
  
"You're welcome to join us if you wish, Kamui," Karen said between giggles. "Plenty of sake for everyone!" She took another large gulp of her own cup. Funny... now that she'd had a few drinks in her, Aoki was looking even better than usual... She smirked, an evil plan forming in her head, and headed toward the extremely inebriated editor.  
  
Sighing, Kamui considered his options. It was clear that he wasn't going to get any sleep with all of this going on below him. And now that he thought of it, it would be nice to drown his angst in drink for a few hours...  
  
With a small "hmph" of surrender, the small bishonen climbed down the stairs and into the middle of the party.  
  
Yuzuriha cheered and poured out a cup of sake for him and watched expectantly as the boy drank it. When he looked back at her, she noted with glee that his eyes were slightly glazed. She smirked and poured him another cup, which he downed quickly. She bit her lip to keep from cackling as she kept pouring him sake. This was going to be so much fun...  
  
She finally left Kamui alone on his 4th cup, as the boy started to say some very interesting things that was making her blush even in her drunken state, and instead chose to curl up next to Kusanagi as the man drank some sake himself. "Kusa-chaaan.." she said, and Kusanagi glanced down at her, finally drunk enough to return her flirts.   
  
Karen stood to the side, watching Aoki dance like an idiot, then pounced him. The drunken idiot didn't seem to notice until Karen knocked them both to the ground.  
  
"Oh, hello...Karen-san." he said with a goofy look on his face. "How did you get up there?"  
  
Karen smirked down at him and purred a little. "I decided you were just too cute to resist pouncing on."  
  
She was a bit surprised when he did not respond with his usual blush and flustered stammering, but instead gave her a huge grin and said, "I think you're cute too, Karen-san."  
  
Karen tried not to giggle. "Oh, really."  
  
Seiichirou nodded enthusiastically, then blinked and gave a little groan as the world began to spin out of control. "Well... not cute," he said once everything had righted itself, frowning in deep thought. "More like... gorgeous." His face cleared and he grinned again. "Yeah, definitely."  
  
"Anything else?"   
  
"... I love you."  
  
Karen raised an eyebrow. "Aoki-san, you're married."  
  
The man frowned deeply. "... I am? ... oh, right, I am! Oh, no! Shimako-san's going to be mad at me! I gotta get home..." He struggled to get out from under Karen, but the soapgirl easily pinned him down, having already decided that she was not going to let this opportunity get away. Taking a deep breath, she silenced his protests with a kiss.  
  
Meanwhile, Sorata had fallen fast asleep on the couch and was snoring loudly. It took Arashi several minutes to notice this, but when she did, she staggered to her feet and whapped him soundly.  
  
"Mmphgrragph... Nee-chan... ooh..." Mumbling obscene things in his sleep, Sorata rolled over and continued snoozing away. Arashi hit him again, this time on the head.  
  
"... gah! Wha... where am I... oh my head... agh..." The monk tried to sit up too quickly, and clutched at his head in pain.   
  
Arashi glared at him. "You're not s'posed to be sleeping," she said in a very serious, stern tone.   
  
"Well, what should I do, then?" Sorata mumbled, swaying a little.  
  
Arashi paused, then tackled him.  
  
Sorata oofed as he was slammed back against the couch, but didn't protest one bit as Arashi kissed him, and neither of them protested as hands started to wander...  
  
In another corner of the room, Kamui slammed his cup on the table, shattering it and startling Yuzuriha and Kusanagi, who had been in the middle of a nosebleed worthy kiss. "My destiny sucks!" He sobbed randomly, then straightened up. "I'm shick of it!" He stood up suddenly, which was bad because the movement made him pass out. He sprawled out across the floor, snoring loudly.   
  
"Ooh...poor Kamui-chan...." Yuzuriha said absently, looking at the boy from her position on Kusanagi's lap. "Should we go wake him up? Or should we leave him be and mess with his mind later on?" Kusanagi shrugged and kissed the girl again, but not before dragging her hands away from inappropriate places. He may have been drunk, but still had some amount of decency.  
  
Karen finally pulled away from Aoki, noting that he seemed speechless.   
  
"Karen-san..." He said, glasses askew.  
  
"Yes?" Karen asked a little too innocently.  
  
"....Where's your room again?" He asked, face breaking out into a drunken, goofy grin. Karen blinked, then grinned.   
  
"I thought you'd never ask."  
  
She dragged him to his feet. They were halfway to the stairs when Seiichirou went limp, pulling Karen down to the floor with him. "On second thought, your room's too far away," he slurred. "How 'bout we just stay right here?"  
  
Karen considered the idea. He was right-- it was an awful long ways to her room, and her head was feeling fuzzier and fuzzier every minute. Besides, the sake was down here...  
  
Her eyes fell upon a full cup just sitting conveniently nearby, and another evil idea entered her mind. She reached over and picked it up, then looked down at Seiichirou, still shirtless, sprawled out on the carpet. A slow smirk crossed her face.  
  
Kusanagi had just shoved Yuzu's hands out of his "special area" for the tenth time when suddenly everything went black. He thought at first that he had passed out or fallen asleep, but he realized that he could still hear Yuzuriha's giggles (and feel her clumsy attempts at groping). Slowly he lifted a hand to his head, and plucked off...  
  
... a T-shirt.   
  
He blinked down at the article of clothing, then looked to make sure he and Yuzuriha were still wearing their shirts. Upon finding that they were, he glanced around the room...  
  
... and a pleated blue skirt hit him in the face.  
  
The flying clothes seemed to be coming from a couch in the opposite corner of the room. Kusanagi couldn't see what was happening on the couch, and he wasn't drunk enough to believe that he wanted to. With a sigh, he tossed the clothes aside and returned his attention to Yuzuriha.  
  
On the aforementioned couch across the room, Sorata was literally having the time of his life. Arashi, usually so meek and reserved, had turned into a veritable wild woman once she'd gotten a little (or a lot of) sake into her. He gave a little yelp of surprise when she took hold of the waistband of his pants and practically tore them off, leaving him clad only in a pair of black boxer shorts covered in little red hearts.  
  
She giggled drunkenly, dressed only in a slip "Cute, Sora-chan." She was about to take his boxers off too, but he grabbed her hands. Even he was sober enough to know that that sorta thing shouldn't be done in living rooms. She pouted, but then grinned wildly as Sora grabbed her and pulled both of them behind the couch, into more privacy.   
  
On the floor, Karen grinned down at the drunken editor. "Come on, Aoki-san...you don't wanna be on the living room floor all night, do you?"  
  
Aoki considered this. "Well, it depends..." Karen wondered about taking advantage of him in this state, then shrugged and sipped some of the sake. Then, with surprising strength for her state, she pulled him up.  
  
"Come on." she slurred slightly. "We're going to the kitchen. More sake there."   
  
Aoki looked confused(or just drunk) and nodded, which caused the room to spin. "Whatever you want, Karen-san." They stumbled together out of the room.  
  
This left Kamui (who was still unconscience), Sorata and Arashi(who were both too preoccupied to notice anything), and Yuzuriha and Kusanagi, who had finally given up on keeping Yuzu's hands away from him and was just concentrating on kissing the girl before he passed out.   
  
He didn't notice that they were both sliding backwards until his head hit the armrest of the couch and he found the younger girl on top of him. Drunk as he was, this set off little alarm bells in his mind, and he broke off the kiss and propped himself up on one elbow. "Ojou-chan, I don't think..." he mumbled. "I... don't think this is a good idea..."  
  
"What?" Yuzu gave him her most innocent, quizzical look. "What do you mean? I was just tired, and I thought you might be too, so I thought we should lay down." She giggled, as if she had just told the funniest joke imaginable.  
  
Kusanagi coughed. "Oh... if that's all..." He settled back against the couch, completely missing the evil-genki grin that flashed across Yuzuriha's face.  
  
Seiichirou and Karen were in much the same position, except in that situation, neither of them were complaining. Karen could hardly believe her luck. She had thought jokingly about getting Seiichirou drunk so that he would finally respond to her flirtations, but she hadn't imagined that it would ever really happen. She supposed it was wrong, and she supposed that both of them would regret it in the morning... perhaps it was the sake, and perhaps it was the fact that he was kissing her more passionately than she'd ever been kissed before, but she found herself completely not caring.  
  
Sorata and Arashi, meanwhile, had abandoned all control(not to mention clothing) and were engaged in one very giggly, very clumsy gropefest. Their cries even managed to awaken Kamui, , who stirred, sat up, and gave a slurred yell. "Fuuma... Subaru... Kotori... all of them.... gone... destiny..." He trailed off into incoherent sobbing, then flopped over again. Sorata poked his head out from behind the couch to check on the boy; then Arashi's hands happened to brush against a rather sensitive place and he found his attention drawn sharply back to the task at hand.  
  
Finally he decided he'd had enough playing around, and pinned her against the carpet, muffling her cry of surprise with his mouth. She quickly melted into the kiss and wrapped her arms tightly around him, pulling him closer.  
  
In the kitchen, Karen had discarded her already rumpled dress and it lay in the corner of the room. Not that she cared. Seiichirou had already seen her in her underwear before, anyway. And she had a feeling they were both too drunk to give a rat's rear what she was wearing, and she also had a feeling she wouldn't be wearing it for long.  
  
Seiichirou was kissing her neck now, alternating between bites and licks, and she drunkenly wondered for a moment if she should try and get him drunk every night. He certainly wasn't acting like he normally did, but she wasn't complaining. Her thoughts abruptly broke off as Aoki rolled over and held her against the floor. She gave him a bewildered drunk look, which quickly changed as he continued to kiss her.   
  
Back in the living room, Kusanagi was concentrating on kissing Yuzuriha, trying not to listen as cries and other sounds drifted over to their side of the room. She pulled back gasping for air, her cheeks flushed from all the alcohol she'd consumed that evening. She grinned at him. "Kusa-chaan is being kinda forceful tonight...not that I'm complainiiing." she giggled and cuddled the man, who flinched and rubbed his head to get rid of the headache that was coming on. He definetely needed to get the girl off him, though, before he did something he wouldn't remember in the morning.   
  
"Ojou-chan. Isn't it past your bedtime?" He asked.  
  
Yuzuriha frowned. "I'm not a little girl! I can drink and I can stay up as late as I want!" She bounced, then swayed slightly as the room spun from her movement. Kusanagi grabbed onto her to keep from falling onto the floor, and she leaned into his arms. "I'll proof I'm notta a litle kid!" she pouted and sat up, then started to pull her shirt over her head. Kusanagi, understandbly, panicked, and tried to get her to stop, but she threw the garment aside and it fell over Kamui's head. Kusanagi slapped his hands over his eyes, childish, but effective. Yuzuriha frowned slightly, in her sporting bra, and hugged him. "Aren't I cute, Kusa-chan?"  
  
"I think Ojou-chan has had too much to drink." Kusa mumbled, and thought that he had as well, when he found himself kissing her again. Yuzuriha smirked slightly through the kiss. Being drunk had its advantages.  
  
Sorata and Arashi were finding this out quite nicely, as had Sora realized that both of them were too drunk to be able to remember this in the morning, and so wasn't holding anything back. He kissed her again, and swept now-damp hair away from her face. "Sorry." he mumbled, his breath smelling strongly of sake. Arashi said nothing, but held him closer and he pressed his face against her hair.  
  
"We're so drunk." she giggled and patted his back. "As long as you don't throw up on me, I don't mind..." He blinked and looked at her and she smiled slyly, eyes bright.   
  
"Nee-chan?" He blinked again, confused. Then, that was nothing new, even if he was drunk. Arashi smiled and kissed him. Then she pulled back and gave him a grin.  
  
"I wasn't sure how to be able to get you to sleep with me again...darn those chastity vows...so much more fun when you're drunk, Sora-chan." She laughed, and kissed his cheek. "But that's why I love you..."  
  
"...Nee-chan..." She silenced him with another kiss, and then both of them totally forgot about being silent after that.  
  
In the other room, Karen leaned back, eyes wide. "Seiichirou! I never knew you were such a good kisser!" She flushed at those words. Seiichirou gave her a drunken grin, then kissed her shoulder, grasping the straps of her bra in his hands. Karen blinked and then gave a small yell of surprise as he pulled down, then grasped her tightly, reaching around her back to find the hook.  
  
Once she overcame her surprise, she smiled at his sudden boldness and waited for him to free her of one of her last articles of clothing. Her smile soon shifted into a confused frown-- he sure was taking a long time. With a sigh, she realized that men were even worse at working bra clasps when they were three sheets to the wind (author's note: no pun intended, ha ha), and reached back to help him out.  
  
Meanwhile, Kusanagi was wishing he could do the exact opposite to Yuzu-- put her shirt back on her. He was not about to take advantage of a girl as young and inexperienced as her in such a state of lowered inhibitions, even if she wasn't quite as innocent as she seemed. He let her kiss him a few more times, then gently shifted both of them back into a sitting position. Pouting, Yuzuriha threw her small form against the man's bulk, attempting to move them back into the position they'd been in before.  
  
"Sorry, Ojou-chan," he said, a little sadly, catching her easily in a strong embrace. "Some other time, maybe."  
  
She continued to pout for a few minutes, but settled comfortably into his arms and laid her head against his chest. He smiled, gently stroking her hair and trying to keep his eyes open. The alcohol was making its way through his system and leaving him rather sleepy.  
  
Before he knew it, he was asleep. Yuzuriha blinked as the man collapsed back down, then realized he wasn't awake. An evil grin crept across her face.  
  
Sorata, however, was still wide awake, and still quite enjoying himself. It took quite a bit to draw Arashi out of her shell when she was sober, but now, with her inhibitions lowered, it seemed she was up for just about anything. He yelped as her teeth bit gently into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, making a mental note to get Nee-chan drunk a lot more often.  
  
Although, the way she acted and talked didn't make her seem like she was really drunk, he thought for a moment, before his mind was pulled elsewhere by Arashi's hands.  
  
Aoki finally managed to find the hook(with Karen's help) and the bra joined her dress in the corner of the room. Karen giggled and grabbed a cup of sake that was conviently on the table near them. Better get him even more sloshed before he regretted something in the morning. At this rate, he wouldnt' remember anything in the morning. And that would be good.   
  
Seiichirou took the cup offered to him and drank it down, his head swimming for a moment before it cleared and he jumped the soapgirl again, pushing her against the floor. Karen laughed and wrapped her arms around the editors back and nibbled at his ear while he began to shed them both of the last bits of clothing.  
  
Yuzuriha curled up next to Kusanagi and started sleeping. The man now had pink ribbons in his hair, and make up on(curtousy of Karen's unprotected purse), and Yuzuriha was tired from giggling so much at the site of him, not to mention all the sake she had consumed that night. She curled up under his arms(still minus a T-shirt, Kamui had grabbed it in his sleep and was now drooling on it) and fell asleep to his snores.  
  
Sorata lay next to Arashi, finally starting to feel the effects of so much alcohol. Both of them were now exhausted, and were using Arashi's discarded slip to give them a minute amount of decency. Well, Sorata may have been exhausted, but Arashi was still giggling and biting him, and groping him whenever she felt like it.  
  
Apparently that last cup of sake had been a bit too much for Seiichirou, because just as things were about to get to the point where he really would have regretted it in the morning (if he remembered it at all), he suddenly pulled away and flopped unconscious on the tiled floor, snoring lightly.  
  
Karen blinked, then giggled softly and gently pushed a few mussed locks of hair off his forehead. She was a little disappointed, but she supposed it was for the best; if he did remember anything in the morning, she could at least console him with the fact that they hadn't really gone all that far. It still wouldn't be a pretty situation, she thought, wincing a little. Then she smiled and looked down at him again. He looked so cute asleep... or, rather, passed out, she thought with a wry smile. Getting to her feet (slowly, so she wouldn't lose her balance), she pulled on her dress and headed for the living room to get a blanket to cover Seiichirou with.  
  
She walked in hesitantly, afraid that she would be interrupting some rather intimate moments, but she found everyone asleep. Yuzuriha and Kusanagi were curled up together on the couch (Yuzu without a shirt, she realized with some alarm, but since all other clothing was present on the couple, Karen decided not to worry too much). Sorata and Arashi were behind the other couch. Only their heads were visible, but they seemed to be sleeping in each other's arms. And Kamui was lying in the middle of the living room, snoring loudly, mouth hanging open, looking nothing like the beautiful, delicate bishonen he was known to be. Karen couldn't help snickering.   
  
Grabbing a throw blanket off the end of Yuzu and Kusa's couch, she went back into the kitchen and gently laid it over Seiichirou's sleeping form. He mumbled something unintelligable and curled up into the blanket's warmth. Karen smiled, then turned away. She would have liked to stay with him, but she knew that if he woke up in the morning with a woman who was not his wife in his arms, he would probably go into palpitations. (And it was going to be strange enough for him to wake up half naked on the kitchen floor, after all.) Sadly, she left the room and lay down on the couch that Sorata and Arashi were lying behind, and quickly fell asleep.  
  
~  
  
Kusanagi was the first to wake up, since he was rather used to getting up early in the mornings. The first thing he noticed was that he had the most painful headache he'd ever had in his life, even for a hangover. The second thing he noticed was that Yuzu-chan was curled up at his side and she still was minus a shirt. He flinched and sat up carefully, trying not to wake her or pass out. He picked his jacket up from the floor and layed it over the girl, then stumbled off to try and find a bathroom, carefully stepping over Kamui in the middle of the floor.  
  
Aoki heard movement from the living room and opened his eyes, not that it did him any good. Wondering why his head hurt so badly, and why he wasn't wearing a shirt, he groped around blindly for his glasses, finally finding them under a chair. He sat up, head pounding and looked around. He blinked.  
  
"..Why am I in the kitchen?" he asked aloud to himself, and tried to get up. When his body protested to that (for if he moved, it would pass out again), he curled up under the blanket again and tried to get his head to stop throbbing. He also wracked his poor abused brain for a reason why he was on the floor of the kitchen.  
  
When Kusanagi came back, feeling better after having thrown up a bit, he forgot about stepping over Kamui, and tripped. The loud thump woke everyone up, no matter how deep a sleep they had been in.  
  
Karen shot up from the couch, startled, then sank back down onto it. She wasn't quite as hung over as the other two, but she still had a bit of a headache. Rubbing the back of her neck, she went to the kitchen to begin fixing a large pot of coffee-- it seemed as if everyone was going to need some.  
  
When she saw that Seiichirou was awake, she blushed a little, but tried to greet him as naturally as possible. "Good morning, Aoki-san. I assume you could use a nice cup of black coffee?"  
  
"Please," he said with a little groan, managing to roll over onto his back and stare confusedly up at the soapgirl. "... Karen-san, can I ask you something?"  
  
Karen winced. "Go ahead."  
  
"Um... Where's my shirt?"  
  
She flushed, and quickly tried to hide her face from him. "I... don't know... it must be around here somewhere, I mean, shirts don't just get up and walk away--"  
  
Seiichirou cut off her babbling quickly. "What happened last night, Karen-san?"  
  
"Well..." She coughed, and smiled sheepishly. "I'm afraid we all had a bit too much to drink."  
  
"And that explains why I'm laying on the floor of the Imonoyamas' kitchen without a shirt on?" He was acting much more like his old, shy self, blushing insanely and wrapping the blanket tightly around his bare chest.  
  
"... Well, yes." She quickly handed him a cup of coffee and left the room to give some to everyone else. She needed a bit of time to come up with a decent explanation.  
  
While she had been gone, Sorata and Arashi had awakened; Sorata, surprisingly, didn't seem hung over at all. He looked as genki and enthusiastic as he always did. Arashi, on the other hand, had seen much better days. There were dark circles under her eyes, her hair was a mess, and she kept holding her head and groaning. Sorata had his arms wrapped around her waist from behind, and every now and then he reached up a hand to smooth her hair back or rub her shoulders.  
  
Luckily, she had put her slip back on, and Sora had retrieved his boxers from someplace.  
  
"I'm going to kill you, Sora..." Arashi growled, but her words were meaningless as she leaned back into the boy as her headache continued. Sorata sweatdropped and patted her stomach.  
  
"It'll feel better after you have some coffee" Karen said, handing them a cup they could share. Arashi took it and took a sip, then grimaced and handed the cup to Sorata.  
  
Karen heard a small groan come from Yuzu's side of the room and headed over there with another cup of coffee, though she doubt the girl drank it. Yuzu was clutching Kusanagi's jacket around her, curled up on the couch and looked like she was crying.   
  
"My head hurts so much, Karen-san..." Yuzu whined when the woman sat down next to her and patted her back. "I feel like I'm going to be sick." Kusanagi finally picked himself off the floor and came over, rubbing his head.  
  
"You had a bit too much to drink, Ojou-chan." He mumbled, sitting on Yuzuriha's other side, accepting the cup of coffee Karen handed him. Yuzu sniffed and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.  
  
Karen sighed and leaned back, drinking her own coffee. "Looks like everything got out of control." She said between sips.  
  
Kusanagi nodded. "Way out of control. Whose insane idea was this, anyway?   
  
Across the room, Sorata flinched when Arashi pinched his leg in answer to Kusanagi's question  
  
And Kamui continued to snore in the middle of the room.  
  
At that moment, Seiichirou entered, tugging on his very wrinkled dress shirt and still looking a little dizzy. Upon his entrance, Sorata started snickering, resulting in a whap from Arashi. Everyone else just kind of averted their eyes and coughed, no longer having quite the same impression of the formely straitlaced editor after his... performance the night before.  
  
"... What?" He blushed a little, a confused statement on his face. Karen smiled a little sheepishly and got up to greet him.  
  
"Ah... nothing, Aoki-san. I see you, um, found your shirt."  
  
Loosening the collar a little, he nodded, then winced and put a hand to his head. "Yes. Thrown rather unceremoniously in the corner with... well... other articles of clothing." At this, his blush intensified several times and he was unable to look her in the eye. "Karen-san, please tell me what happened last night?"  
  
Sorata snickered again, and was whapped again by a faintly groaning Arashi.  
  
Karen blushed a little. "Ah, well..." she went to the editor and hesitantly took his arm. "Why don't we go talk about this in...the..the kitchen." She needed to get her bra, anyway. Ignoring the beet red face of the man, she dragged him out of the room.  
  
Kusanagi looked at a clock in the corner of the room, and flinched. "I need to get going back to work, Ojou-chan." He bent and Yuzu a small kiss on her head, which made Sorata and Arashi give him a suspicious look. "If you want, we'll meet for ice cream later on in the week. And keep my jacket. Give it back when we next meet, okay?" Yuzuriha looked up and nodded, and once again curled up by herself on the couch. Kusanagi was used to having hangovers, and so was able to control his stumbling as he walked out of the room and out the door of the mansion.  
  
Arashi flinched and lurched to her feet. "I'm going to be sick." Sorata grabbed her before she keeled over and the two went to the bathroom before she ended up throwing up all over Kamui.  
  
Speaking of Kamui, he was starting to awaken. Ignoring the pain in his head(for he had far more pain every time he met Fuuma) he sat up, then looked around. "What the heck happened last night?"  
  
Yuzuriha pulled Kusanagi's jacket around her. "We all got drunk. You passed out...."  
  
Kamui blinked. "Oh, great....did anyone molest me while I was passed out?"  
  
Yuzuriha thought. "No, I don't think so. We were all pretty preoccupied." She blushed, remembering last night. Sorata and Arashi came back in, Arashi looking even paler.  
  
"Kamui! You're awake!" Sorata said loudly, and Arashi smacked him for yelling in her ear.   
  
"Sorata, this was your idea..." Kamui tottered to his feet. "I'm going to kill you."   
  
Sorata meeped and dove behind the couch, not exactly wishing to have the power of God after him, even when the power of God was somewhat indisposed and hung over. Arashi, left unsupported, swayed on her feet a little before taking a few hesitant steps and collapsing onto the couch, half-conscious and moaning.  
  
Yuzuriha managed a weak smile. "Don't be angry with Sorata, Kamui-chan. It was Karen-san and I who invited you to join us." She sweatdropped when Kamui turned on her, glaring fiercely. "But you didn't have to if you didn't want to!" she cried quickly.  
  
Realizing she was right, Kamui settled for glowering at the floor and rubbing his head.  
  
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Seiichirou was fretting over a second cup of coffee. "Karen-san, I can't believe I drank so much last night... I've never been that drunk, ever! I can't remember anything..." He looked pathetically up at her, hazel eyes wide and vulnerable, and Karen resisted the urge to "awwww". Instead, she patted his arm comfortingly.   
  
"Don't worry, Aoki-san. Sometimes things happen. Besides, now you can say you've had the experience..." She winked at him.  
  
He pouted. "Nonetheless, I'd like to know what happened. It's very disconcerting, to have a total hole in your memory like that. For all I know I could have... we could have..." His face flushed and he trailed off, playing with his napkin nervously. "Why won't you tell me? Was it that bad?"  
  
Karen smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Well...."  
  
They were interuppted by a knocking at the door. Karen thanked her lucky stars, and went to go see who it was. The teens in the living room heard the knocking as well, and Yuzuriha and Kamui poked their head out to see who was at the door. (Sorata was once again comforting Arashi, who refused to move from the couch). Seiichirou, after a moment's hesitation followed the soapgirl.  
  
Karen opened the door and blinked. Then flinched.  
  
Shimako Aoki stood there on the porch, Yuka holding onto her skirt. The woman raised an eyebrow as she caught site of her husband over Karen's shoulder. "Seiichirou..where were you last night?"  
  
The editor made a little choking noise, as if he were being strangled, and stared uncomprehendingly at his wife. "... Ah... er... Shimako-san, I...."  
  
The brunette woman glared. "I waited up all night for you. You said you'd be home on New Years' Eve, after you attended to some business...."  
  
"... Er, the business took longer than I thought it would?" Seiichirou sweatdropped and started backing away.  
  
"Look, just because you're saving the world doesn't mean you have license to run around spending the night with..." Shimako glanced at Karen suspiciously, "with teenagers and strange people!"  
  
Seiichirou sighed deeply and ran a hand through his light brown hair, still a little messy from the night before. "All right, you want the truth?"  
  
"No, actually, I was hoping for a lie," his wife snapped back, still glaring. "Of course I want the truth."  
  
"You heard her, Karen-san..." The editor caught Karen's eye and gave her a small smile.  
  
Karen blinked, confused as to what Seiichirou was planning, and took a deep breath. "Well..."   
  
She looked around at Seiichirou, then his wife and then to the wide, curious eyes of Yuzuriha and Kamui. Then, she said. "Well, actually...I don't remember anything from last night!" She lied, then quickly continued as Seiichirou looked like he was about to fall over. "I'm sure Sora-chan would know. He's not hung over at all." She nodded, and sighed with relief as everyone went to the living room to weedle the truth out of Sorata.  
  
Yuka Aoki looked up at Karen as her parents left the hallway. "You lied, right?" She asked, innocently.  
  
Karen sweatdroped, "Of course not.."  
  
"Okay..." Yuka said, confusedly. "It's just that you looked like you were lying. But I'm sure Daddy wouldn't do anything." She followed her mother. Karen, alone, dashed up the stairs to go lock herself in the bathroom, before Sorata or Arashi went to find her.  
  
"Are you Sorata?" Shimako demanded of the monk, who looked up in surprise from his spot on the couch cuddling with Arashi.  
  
"Yes, last I checked," he cracked.  
  
Shimako didn't look amused. "Well, since neither my husband nor his 'friend' seem to have any recollection of what he was doing last night, perhaps you can tell me."  
  
Sorata blinked, looking from Seiichirou's calm face to his wife's angry one, and decided that telling the truth would be easier than making up some intricate lie. "Well, I can't say I was paying much attention to him," he winked and squeezed Arashi's hand, "but I do seem to recall some dancing... then he and Karen went off to the kitchen together..." He shot Seiichirou an apologetic look, but the windmaster still looked calm.  
  
Shimako spun around and turned the full force of her glare upon her husband. "So! You'd rather go off and get drunk and spend the night with random women than be at home with your family! And to think I thought you were a gentleman!" She huffed out the door, Yuka clinging confusedly to her leg. "If you're interested in acting like a human being again, I'll be at my mother's house!" she snapped over her shoulder. The door slammed, making Arashi wince and clutch her head.  
  
The Dragons of Heaven blinked, then looked at Seiichirou. Strangely enough, he still looked rather calm. Sorata passed it over as shock. Then, the older man blinked. "Oh, dear..." he said, looking in the direction his wife left. "I think...I'll go lay down..." He said, and looked like he was about to pass out.  
  
Yuzuriha and Kamui both grabbed his arms. "We'll take you to a guest room, Aoki-san." Yuzuriha said, and the two teens dragged the editor toward the stairs, Yuzuriha tripping slightly on Kusanagi's large jacket.  
  
Sorata looked down at Arashi, who was still groaning slightly. "Why don't we go catch up on some sleep? Sleeping on the floor is not the best way to rest, right?" He helped her up and they retired to Arashi's bedroom.  
  
After Yuzu and Kamui left(presumbably to shower, eat, change or sleep), Aoki sat on the edge of the bed in one of the Imonoyama's guest bedrooms. He heard a door open, though it wasn't the door leading to the hall.  
  
"Aoki-san?" Karen asked, slowly coming over to the man. "Yuzuriha-chan just told me what happened. I'm sorry. If I had known that Shimako would do that, I would never have given you sake to begin with."  
  
Seiichirou shook his head. "Things have been shaky between us for a while, since this whole End of the World deal started..." He sighed and layed down across the cool, silky sheets. "Karen-san? Do you really not remember anything from last night?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Because if something happened...tell me now." He rolled over and looked at the soapgirl.  
  
Karen smiled. "Nothing happened, Aoki-san. You passed out before things got too far." She sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry I lied....but your wife looked like she was about to kill me." She couldn't help but flinch when the editor stared at her. " Um....I'll let you sleep now, and I'll go back to my room. Goodbye, Aoki-san."  
  
"Wait, Karen-san." When she turned back to look at Seiichirou, he was looking up at the ceiling with a weird expression on his face. "Since nothing happened last night, and it's probably a long walk to your room, and we're having hangovers...." he coughed, and a huge blush appeared on his face. "Would you like to stay until we recover from last night?"  
  
Karen grinned, "Why certainly, Aoki-san." She climbed onto the bed next to him, still grinning at the cute blush on his face and they slept.  
  
* * * * *  
  
By dinnertime, everyone was feeling quite a bit better. Karen in particular looked rather radiant, and kept smiling across the table at Seiichirou, who looked fairly content for a man whose wife was absolutely furious with him. Sorata noticed the glances that passed between the two of them, and was about to comment, but Arashi kicked him under the table to shut him up.  
  
Wincing, he managed a smile nonetheless. "So, everything turned out for the best, ne?" He shot an apologetic glance at Seiichirou. "Sorry about your wife, though, Aoki-san. I'm sure she'll come around."  
  
"Yeah," Seiichirou said distractedly, looking at Karen. "It's all right."   
  
Sorata smirked and turned to Yuzuriha. "And you, Yuzu-chan... you had fun, didn't you?"  
  
The girl blushed fiercely. "Well... I... I guess I did," she stammered. "But I didn't feel so good this morning. That part wasn't fun."  
  
The monk chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'm sure your tolerance will be a little better next time we do this!"  
  
Five faces gaped at him across the table.  
  
"How about next weekend?" he went on cheerfully. ".... OW! Ow! Knock that off! I was just kidding! No, don't hit me with that-- OW! That really hurt-- I was kidding--"  
  
And life went on as normal at the Imonoyama mansion.  
  
Subaru Sumeragi cried because he had no one to spend New Years with.  
  
THE END. 


End file.
